Red Sox May Acquire $73 Million All-Star Starting Pitcher In Midseason Blockbuster

Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow worked tirelessly this offseason to build a better starting rotation. Is his work done yet?

Breslow not only traded for new ace Garrett Crochet, but signed free agents Walker Buehler and Patrick Sandoval, the latter of whom is still recovering from Tommy John surgery. With Lucas Giolito returning from injury, Boston believed they had eight or nine starters capable of being rotation fixtures.

Unfortunately, things have unraveled in the early going. Giolito, Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello, and Richard Fitts are all on the injured list. The Red Sox have had to rely on Sean Newcomb four times through the rotation.

Couple that with Tanner Houck's struggles, and the Red Sox have real rotation question marks. Between now and July's trade deadline, it's conceivable that Breslow could have some more work to do if he wants to see his team in the playoffs.

On Tuesday, Jon Vankin of Newsweek named Minnesota Twins ace Pablo López as a potential trade target for Boston at this year's deadline, assuming the former All-Star righty is fully recovered from his current hamstring strain.

"Perhaps the leading candidate to join the Red Sox rotation would be Minnesota Twins 29-year-old righty Pablo López, who before landing on the 15-day injured list himself with a hamstring issue was cruising along with a 1.62 ERA and 14 strikeouts against a mere two walks across 16 2/3 innings," Vankin wrote.

"The nine-year veteran is in the second year of a four-season, $73.5 million contract — with $62.25 million left to pay out. While $21.75 million per season may be more than the Red Sox want to pay for another starting pitcher, a trade for López would not be a rental. The contract binds him to his team for two seasons after the current one."

The beauty of López is that even if he's not shutting offenses down, he throws innings and puts up strikeouts. Last season, which many considered a down year, he had 185 1/3 innings pitched and 198 strikeouts, good for 2.5 bWAR despite a 4.08 ERA.

Vankin also wrote that while the Red Sox would likely refuse to put top prospects Roman Anthony or Marcelo Mayer in the trade (agreed!), a deal centered on 19-year-old shortstop Franklin Arias could get talks moving.

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